"Flattire"

The Guardian's Geoffrey Wheatcroft is feeling pretty antsy about the declining quality of British humor. I'd get pretty antsy too, since humor has been Britain's greatest cultural export since the 70's, when they ran out of political ideas.

Anyways, one of the things he laments is the prevalence of "flattire" in contemporary British comedy. What is "flattire"? Sounds like "flat tire", but what the hell:

It also illustrated a pattern which that excellent veteran critic, Philip French of the Observer, identified with his lethal coining "flattire". He meant films which are ostensibly satirical but which really flatter the audience by ingratiatingly reinforcing all their prejudices. One of the direst had "American" in its title but was by a British director. The venerable Pauline Kael was still alive when American Beauty came out, to ask sharply why the middle-class liberals who were drooling over this tripe couldn't recognise the way it sucked up to them, with its catalogue of cliches and every punch telegraphed.

Basically, it is a really cheap and unintellectual sort of satire.

Can anybody say "Jon Stewart"? There's a reason Stephen Colbert kicks his ass regularly nowadays.